Gargazzone

The Aschlerbach, which comes down through the territory of Gargazzone, is one of the most political watercourses in Italy: for two thousand years it has been made to serve as a border. In Roman times it separated the two provinces of Raetia, Raetia prima from Raetia secunda; in 843 it divided Germany from Italy; around 1270 it marked the southern limit of the county of the Val Venosta towards the diocese of Chur; between 1800 and 1812 it lay between the Kingdom of Italy and the Bavarian government in Tyrol; and to this day it divides the district of the Burgraviato from that of the Adige valley. It is a torrent with several waterfalls and, when the rain is heavy, it can be dangerous: in 1960 and 1966 its waters invaded the orchards of the valley and did great damage.

Above the village stands the Kröll tower, built in 1240 by Berthold von Trautson. It is not the remnant of a castle: no walls have ever been found around it, and there would not even have been room to build one. It was a watch and signal tower, from which the road of the Adige valley could be controlled; when the enemy came, a bonfire was lit, visible for kilometres. In September 1905 a farmer digging inside the tower found seven Roman coins there. On the coat of arms, adopted in 1968, there are precisely the silver tower, a red mountain — the colour of the quartz porphyry the area is rich in — and three fruit trees, which is what people live on. One last thing that the figures say better than any account: in 1850 two thirds of the inhabitants were Italian-speaking, in 1880 forty-nine per cent, in 1890 thirty-four, in 1900 little more than sixteen. Today four fifths speak German.